Athlone Castle, situated on the western bank of the River Shannon, is the geographical and historical centre of Athlone. Throughout its early history, the
ford of Athlone was strategically important, as south of Athlone the Shannon is impassable until
Clonmacnoise, where the
Esker Riada meets the Shannon, while to the north the Shannon flows into
Lough Ree. In 1001
Brian Bóru sailed his army up river from Kincora and through
Lough Derg to attend a gathering in Athlone. The following year, Brian met the
High King of Ireland Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill at Athlone, intending to engage him in a battle for the High Kingship – only to have Máel Sechnaill, abandoned by his kinsmen of the
Northern Uí Néill, submit to Brian without a fight. A bridge was built across the river in the 12th century, approximately south of the current structure. In 1129, to protect the bridge, the High King
Turloch Mór Ó Conor constructed a fort on the river's west bank, within Athlone. On a number of occasions both the fort and bridge were subject to attacks, and towards the end of the 12th century the
Anglo-Normans constructed a
motte-and-bailey fortification there. This earthen fort was followed by a stone structure built in 1210 by Justiciar
John de Gray. The 12-sided
donjon, or tower, dates from this time; however, the rest of the original castle was largely destroyed during the 1691
Siege of Athlone and subsequently rebuilt and enlarged. In 1607, Athlone was granted a municipal charter by James I. This entitled it to
send two MPs to the
Irish House of Commons. Throughout the wars that wracked Ireland in the 17th century, Athlone contained the vital, main bridge over the River Shannon into
Connacht. During the
Irish Confederate Wars (1641–53), the town was held by
Irish Confederate troops until it was taken in late 1650 by
Charles Coote, who attacked the town from the west, having crossed into Connacht at
Sligo. Forty years later, during the pan-European
War of the Grand Alliance (1688–97), the town was again of key strategic importance. In the Irish phase of the conflict (the
Williamite War in Ireland of 1688–1691), Athlone was one of the
Jacobite strongholds that defended the
river-crossings into the Jacobite-held
Province of Connacht following the
Battle of the Boyne on 1 July 1690. That same year, Colonel
Richard Grace's Jacobite forces in Athlone repelled an attack by 10,000 men led by Commander Douglas. In the following year's campaign, the
Siege of Athlone saw a further assault by a larger allied force, during which the invading troops of
King William and
Queen Mary eventually overran the entire city. The defenders were forced to flee further west, toward the
River Suck, at such speed that eyewitness accounts record that they "flung their cannons into the morass" as they fled. The most recently discovered account of the Siege of Athlone, written after the attack, on 5 July 1691, was found in 2004 in an archive in the Netherlands. The account was penned by the victorious commanding officer from the
Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, general lieutenant Godard van Reede, in letters written to his family in mainland Europe. In the account, the commanding allied officer reported that half of Athlone's defenders retreated westward, towards the rest of their army, leaving almost 2,000 dead within the city walls and more than 100 taken prisoner, including dozens of officers. Following the
Acts of Union 1800, Athlone continued as
a constituency, sending one MP to the
House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1885. In the 1970s the
Republican Éire Nua programme proposed making Athlone the capital of a federal
United Ireland. ==Location and access==